Nothing, I don't listen to anything. With one of my previous coaches we used to do two or three turbo trainer sessions per week. I'd just be sitting there enjoying what I'm doing, and then the coach would walk in turning on the music and I would ask them "What are you doing? I don't need it, I'm fine!" I guess I'm happy in my own thoughts when I'm training.

It's probably more entertainment purpose than education purpose, but I love following all the pro athletes' individual Youtube channels. It's really cool to get an insight into who they are and what they do. In terms of books, I think Steve Magness' "The Passion Paradox" is a really good book about the psyche and who you are and how you can carry that into sports. Steve is also a great Twitter-follow, and everything he produces is really great.

This one threw me... I think when I lived in Ireland I would have said porridge, I love it, it's so versatile. And I would have said that my favourite drink was milk, because it's so wholesome and when you're in Ireland and it's cold, milk is just great. But now, coming in from training in the heat, it's definitely some sort of fizzy lemon drink. I don't know about food, maybe something like a buddha bowl or a poke bowl, something that is really colourful and it takes forever to eat because there's so much chewing involved with all the veggies. 

We have a dog and two cats so they take up a lot of our downtime. I don't really get up to much else to be honest, there's not enough time, haha! 

This one took a while to come up with too. I've been asked this before a couple of times and the person I always put in there is Lance Armstrong. I would love to tap into his psyche. That would be a really interesting conversation. The second person would be the late Jerry Kiernan. He was an Irish athletics coach and also an Olympic marathon runner, a legend of Irish sports and a fountain of knowledge. And then, based on my own background of coming into triathlon from outside of the sport, from riding horses and stuff, I would love to talk to Lisa Nordén as she has a very similar background, and a very colourful career with lots of ups and downs.   

My undergraduate is in Sports Science from the University of Limerick. I'm currently one year into a two year masters degree in Sports Nutrition, I'll finish in June 2022. Outside of formal degrees, I completed a Women's Coaching Pathway program co-created by Triathlon Ireland, Rowing Ireland, Boxing Ireland, and Cycling Ireland. It was a year-long program for female coaches by application. It's not about the technicalities of a sport like a Level I or Level II certification, but more about teaching you to learn about yourself, your coaching methods, your morals and so on. It was a really interesting, unique opportunity. 

My background is with horses (jumping and eventing) and with an Irish sport called camogie (NB. a stick-and-ball team sport, the fastest ball-playing sport in the world). When I wanted to start triathlon when I was 16 I had to make a decision between horses and triathlon because both are so time-consuming  and sadly had to sell my horse. I actually just randomly came across triathlon on the internet and thought I'd give it a go. I didn't have a bike, I didn't swim, and I didn't run, but I bought a cheap bike and went and did the race. Then the year after I started university, where I got into a serious swim club and started focusing on triathlon. I basically started something I had no background in but very quickly I wanted to go as far as I possibly could in the sport, and ended up racing on the ITU circuit in World and European Cup races. I still race, but the last couple of years have been horrific with illness and injuries. Before that I would have said that I want to go the Olympics, but after these years I just want to be able to enjoy what I do and be healthy and get to the highest level I can within those constraints. Even if it doesn't take me to the absolute  highest level, I will be very content if that happens. 

Mel Marshall, who is Adam Peaty's (NB. breast stroke specialist from the UK, three-time Olympic Champion, eight-time World Champion, world record holder...) coach. I lived in the UK for five years and did a bit of life-guarding at the pool where Adam and Mel and their group were training, so I have observed many, many hours of Mel's coaching. I learnt a lot from her, how she operates, how she deals with Adam the person and Adam the athlete, as well as managing the rest of the group. She is also pretty much the only female in a very male-dominated group of coaches.